This disclosure relates to a recovery system for a recording head having a discharge nozzle that discharges ink onto a recording medium such as a paper sheet, an ink-jet recording apparatus including the same, and a recovery method for the recording head.
As a recording apparatus such as a facsimile, a copy machine, or a printer, an ink-jet recording apparatus that discharges ink to form an image has been widely used since it is capable of forming high-definition images.
In such an ink-jet recording apparatus, there may occur deterioration of straightness of ink (flying curve), discharge failure, or the like, resulting in degradation in printing performance of a recording head. A possible cause of this is that meniscus abnormality occurs due to a foreign object such as paper powder, dirt, or dust generated at a time of conveyance of a paper sheet (recording medium), a minute ink droplet (hereinafter, referred to as a mist) discharged together with an ink droplet for image recording, or a mist bounced when the ink droplet adheres to the recording medium, being attached to an ink discharge surface of the recording head. Another possible cause is that the mist adheres to a cap mounting portion and becomes dry there, resulting in a decrease in hermeticity at a time of mounting a cap to the cap mounting portion, and still another possible cause is that, as a result of the decrease in hermeticity, part of the ink in a nozzle increases in viscosity.
In order, therefore, to prevent drying of the ink in the discharge nozzle whose opening is provided at the ink discharge surface of the recording head and clogging of the nozzle due to part of the ink in the discharge nozzle increasing in viscosity, a configuration has been used in which, after the ink is forcibly pushed out (purged) from the nozzle, purged ink adhering to the ink discharge surface (nozzle surface) is wiped off by a wiper, which is how a recovery operation of the recording head is performed.